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Theater Listings: Aug. 27 — Sept. 2

Approximate running times are in parentheses. Theaters are in Manhattan unless otherwise noted. Full reviews of current shows, additional listings, showtimes and tickets: nytimes.com/theater.

Previews and Openings

‘An Error of the Moon’ In previews; opens on Monday. Luigi Creatore’s new play analyzes the rivalry of the famous Booth brothers (1:30). Beckett Theater at Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton , (212) 239-6200, AnErroroftheMoon.com.20100826

‘It Must Be Him’ In previews; opens on Wednesday. A struggling comedy writer searches for one last chance in Kenny Solms’s new play with music. Peter J. Sharp Theater, 416 West 42nd Street, Clinton , (212) 279-4200, ticketcentral.com.20100826

★ ‘American Idiot’ A wonderfully raucous and gorgeously wrought rock opera adapted from the blockbuster album by Green Day. With minimal book, the director Michael Mayer and a terrific young cast explore the crisis of post-adolescence (1:30). St. James Theater, 246 West 44th Street , (212) 239-6200, telecharge.com. (Charles Isherwood)20100826

★ ‘La Cage aux Folles’ Terry Johnson’s inspired, Tony-winning revival of this 1983 musical, about family values as seen through the prism of a transvestite revue, delivers the unexpected lesson that in theater, shabby can be not just chic but also redemptive. Kelsey Grammer and Douglas Hodge (in a bravura Broadway debut) star winningly as the happily mismatched couple (2:40). Longacre Theater, 220 West 48th Street , (212) 239-6200, telecharge.com. (Brantley)20100826

★ ‘Come Fly Away’ Twyla Tharp brings her kinetic heat to the cool of Frank Sinatra songs in this dazzling dance musical set in a fantasy nightclub redolent of the 1940s. Brilliantly performed by a cast of truly astounding dancers, the show is a tribute to the pas de deux as mating ritual (1:50). Marquis Theater, 1535 Broadway, at 45th Street , (800) 745-3000, ticketmaster.com. (Isherwood)20100826

★ ‘Fela!’ This transporting musical biography of a Nigerian revolutionary of song doesn’t so much tell a story as soak an audience to, and through, the skin with the style and sensibility called Afrobeat. There has never been anything on Broadway like Bill T. Jones’s kinetic production, which stars the charismatic Sahr Ngaujah and Kevin Mambo (2:30). Eugene O’Neill Theater, 230 West 49th Street , (212) 239-6200, telecharge.com. (Brantley)20100826

‘Memphis’ In the city of the title in the 1950s, a pioneering white radio D.J. (the endearing Chad Kimball) falls in love with R&B music and one of its comely practitioners (the lovely Montego Glover) in this year’s Tony-winning best musical, a slick but essentially soulless work written by David Bryan and Joe DiPietro (“The Toxic Avenger”) and fleetly directed by Christopher Ashley (2:20). Shubert Theater, 225 West 44th Street , (212) 239-6200, telecharge.com. (Isherwood)20100826

‘Million Dollar Quartet’ A small-scale jukebox musical about a big day in rock ’n’ roll history, when Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley all got together for an impromptu jam in the recording studio of Sun Records. The book resembles a standard-issue rock doc, but the music-making is fiery and the songs fun (1:30). Nederlander Theater, 208 West 41st Street , (212) 307-4100, ticketmaster.com. (Isherwood)20100826

‘Promises, Promises’ Despite athletic choreography by Rob Ashford, this revival of a dated 1968 musical about sex in the workplace — with a book by Neil Simon and a score by Burt Bacharach — never manages to push the evening’s temperature much above lukewarm. Katie Finneran is the energizing standout in a cast led by Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes (2:40). Broadway Theater, 1681 Broadway, at 53rd Street , (212) 239-6200, telecharge.com. (Brantley)20100826

Off Broadway

‘Abraham Lincoln’s Big, Gay Dance Party’ A big, meandering gay mess of a play by Aaron Loeb that tells the same preposterous story — the trial of a fourth-grade teacher caught in a political firestorm for intimating that everybody’s favorite American president was homosexual — from three different perspectives (2:25). Acorn Theater at Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton , (212) 239-6200, telecharge.com. (Isherwood)20100826

★ ‘Avenue Q’ Even without legs of their own, the singing hand puppets of this Tony-winning musical are still standing tall in their new Off Broadway digs. This “Sesame Street”-style show about being young and jobless in New York remains fresh, in all senses of the word (2:15). New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, Clinton , (212) 239-6200, telecharge.com. (Brantley)20100826

‘Dietrich & Chevalier: The Musical’ Jerry Mayer’s tale of the movie star Marlene Dietrich and the French song-and-dance-man Maurice Chevalier has a little Old Hollywood glamour and a lot of Nazis and collaborators. The script is predictable, but the cast is good. And hearing “Falling in Love Again” in the original German is a treat (2:10). St. Luke’s Theater, 308 West 46th Street , (212) 239-6200, telecharge.com. (Anita Gates)20100826

‘Freud’s Last Session’ This 75-minute play imagines a meeting between Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis. The two men debate the nature of God in a story that’s sharp though static (1:15). Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater, 10 West 64th Street , (212) 352-3101, freudslastsession.com. (Jaworowski)20100826

★ ‘The Irish ... and How They Got That Way’ The learned and affable spirit of Frank McCourt pervades this revival of his musical history lesson, directed with palpable affection by Charlotte Moore. Younger viewers may find its blend of traditional songs, show tunes and pop somewhat twee, but those with a taste for McCourt’s warm humor and scholarly smarts will find it a buoyant delight (1:50). Irish Repertory Theater, 132 West 22nd Street, Chelsea , (212) 727-2737, irishrep.org. (Andy Webster)20100826

‘Long Story Short’ The wry stand-up comic Colin Quinn brings an everyguy’s perspective to this brisk tour of the follies of mankind dating back a couple of millenniums. Directed by Jerry Seinfeld, the show more or less lives up to its whimsical subtitle: “History of the World in 75 Minutes” (1:15). the Bleecker Street Theater, 45 Bleecker Street , (212) 239-6200, telecharge.com. (Isherwood)20100826

‘Love, Loss and What I Wore’ Or shoes, bags and heartaches. A stuffed closet of comic or poignant stories, or both, collected by Nora and Delia Ephron, about women and their relationship to clothes. Featuring a rotating cast of five comics and actors (1:20). Westside Downstairs, 407 West 43rd Street, Clinton , (212) 239-6200, telecharge.com. (Isherwood)20100826

‘The Screwtape Letters’ The Devil is given his due in a humorous and lively stage version of C. S. Lewis’s examination of Christianity from the viewpoint of the other side. Although the show is a sermon at heart, Max McLean, who adapted the material with Jeffrey Fiske, gives such an energetic performance as Satan’s right-hand man that the satire comes through (1:30). Westside Theater, 407 West 43rd Street, Clinton , (212) 239-6200, ScrewtapeOnStage.com. (Wilborn Hampton)20100826

‘Secrets of the Trade’ Jonathan Tolins’s comedy cross-pollinates two familiar narratives: the showbiz aspirant meeting disillusion and the coming-out story. Sprinkled with some trenchant jokes, the play can’t overcome the clichés inherent in its formulaic plots, although John Glover gives a stylish performance as a Broadway luminary who shirks his mentoring duties (2:00). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street , (212) 279-4200, primarystages.com. (Isherwood)20100826

‘Tales From the Tunnel’ This fast-paced revue of sketches, snapshots and one-liners about true-life experiences in the New York subways, written and directed by Troy Diana and James Valletti, gets points for its talented ensemble of six actors, including Wilson Jermaine Heredia — the Tony Award-winning Angel of “Rent” — who slide from character to character as smoothly as a Metrocard swipe. But there’s too many predictable drunks and public displays of affection while tougher situations are only briefly noted. The show does not take enough risks (1:20). Bleecker Street Theater, 45 Bleecker Street, East Village , (212) 239-6200, talesfromthetunnel.com. (Daniel M. Gold)20100826

‘Trust’ Paul Weitz’s slender comedy about domination and worthlessness — as literally embodied in sadomasochism — feels like a series of New Yorker cartoons that never quite leave the drawing board. But there’s smooth and gutsy acting from Zach Braff, Bobby Cannavale, Sutton Foster and Ari Graynor, directed by Peter DuBois (2:00). Second Stage, 307 West 43rd Street , (212) 246-4422, 2st.com. (Brantley)20100826

‘Viagara Falls’ In this ill-advised geriatric comedy, Lou Cutell and Bernie Kopell play widowers in their 70s who invite a prostitute over for what they hope will be a night of sex, aided by Viagra. The jokes are generally pale and obvious, the crassness level is high, and no one looks comfortable, especially not Teresa Ganzel, who has the thankless job of playing the prostitute (1:30). The Little Shubert Theater, 422 West 42nd Street, Clinton , (212) 239-6200, telecharge.com. (Neil Genzlinger)20100826

‘Wife to James Whelan’ The Mint Theater rediscovers a play by Teresa Deevy that, back in the 1940s, was rejected by the Abbey Theater in Dublin despite her string of successes there. This beautifully acted production suggests that perhaps the Abbey missed an opportunity. The story, about a determined businessman, the woman he loves and their inability to say the right thing at the right time, may seem a bit rickety, but the staging here is never less than compelling (2:10). Mint Theater, 311 West 43rd Street, Clinton , (212) 315-0231, minttheater.org. (Genzlinger)20100826

‘Celebrity Autobiography: In Their Own Words’ Comics and actors in a rotating cast read selections of the witless wisdom culled from the tell-all tomes of the rich and famous (1:30). Triad Theater, 158 West 72nd Street , (212) 868-4444, smarttix.com.20100826

’Den of Thieves’; closes on Sunday. An early mob comedy by Stephen Adly Guirgis tells a modest and amusing tale of a heist gone wrong (1:45). American Theater of Actors, 314 West 54th Street , (212) 868-4444, denofthievesnyc.com. (Zinoman)20100826

‘The Punishing Blow’; closes on Saturday. A Mel Gibson-esque anti-Semitic rant during a drunk-driving arrest is the spark for this intellectually lively but theatrically undernourished one-person play by Randy Cohen, who writes The Ethicist column for The New York Times Magazine. Directed by Seth Duerr, who also stars as the offending philosophy professor, the play is framed as the court-ordered lecture he is forced to give as community service. Chosen from a list of the 100 Most Influential Jews of All Time, his subject is the 18th-century British bare-knuckle boxing champion Daniel Mendoza. The result, unsurprisingly, delivers more tell than show (1:20). Clurman Theater at Theater Row, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton , (212) 239-6200, telecharge.com. (David Rooney)20100826

‘Summer Shorts 4 — Series A’; closes on Tuesday. Neil LaBute offers the best of the four works on this bill of short plays in “Romance,” in which two former lovers (played by men here, but the piece is written in such a way that any combination of the sexes would do) revisit their failed relationship. A speech in which Jeff Binder (known only as A) dismantles the romanticized view his ex had of their time together is simply devastating. For comic relief there’s “Play With the Penguin” by Roger Hedden, a droll work for man, woman and cellist (2:10). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, Manhattan , (212) 279-4200, 59e59.org. (Genzlinger)20100826

‘Summer Shorts 4 — Series B’; closes on Thursday. Mets fans who can’t bear to watch the current team might stop by this bill of four one-acts for Alan Zweibel’s “Happy,” a reverie perfect for the season, involving a man who seeks out a forgotten Mets player from the ’60s for an autograph. On the dark side there’s “Jonathan’s Blaze” by Christopher Stetson Boal, featuring a terrific performance by P. J. Sosko as a veteran who is confronted by an unstable man with a gun (2:00). 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street , (212) 279-4200, 59e59.org. (Genzlinger)20100826

★ ‘With Glee’; closes on Sunday. This delightfully daffy musical by John Gregor about five boys at a Maine boarding school, first seen at the 2007 New York Musical Theater Festival, is getting a very entertaining production by the Prospect Theater Company. The director, Igor Goldin, and choreographer, Antoinette DiPietropolo, make energetic use of the Kirk Theater’s small stage, and the cast, like Mr. Gregor, knows that there’s nothing wrong with nonsense for nonsense’s sake (1:30). Kirk Theater, 410 West 42nd Street, Clinton , (212) 279-4200, ticketcentral.com. (Genzlinger)20100826